Once Upon a Time...

...Ten Years Ago, Today.

This will be a long read. I do not apologise for this. This is a chapter of a life, a start, of sorts. A once-upon-a-time.

But where does this story start? Where does a story ever start? Is there ever a beginning?

Sometimes, a fleeting encounter can play an outsized, larger-than-life part of your personal development. Perhaps you meet someone famous, someone famous for the right reasons, and you share a moment as they talk to and not through or down to you. Perhaps they offer a sliver of advice, or take the time to read something you have crafted, gently, kindly, honestly. Or, perhaps, you meet a friend on holiday, a friendship which quickly blossoms into a teenage romance, perhaps your first true taste of previously out-of-reach fruit? Or you meet an old man on a train, talk for all of five minutes as you prepare your pack to leave, but what he said, sticks.